Hermione could feel a headache coming on. Why couldn't those two stop bickering for once? Ron and Ginny were both red in the face shouting at each other. Beads of sweat rolling off their faces and spittle flying everywhere. Where was Harry when you needed him? Hermione thought.

She'd only been at the Burrow for three days and she already felt like she couldn't go on much longer. Harry was supposed to come yesterday but some dementor scare had postponed his arrival to later today.

Hermione sighed and cracked open a book, figuring that she might as well do something productive while the siblings argued. Sometimes she doubted her choice in companions. Not that she had much of a choice. The other children had scorned her brilliance back in her first year, leaving her with few options. The only reason she wasn't completely friendless was because some blithering idiot had decided it would be a good idea to let loose a bloody troll in the castle. Yes, we certainly do have a unique friendship. One that started with a priceless wand being shoved up a disgusting creatures nasal canals. Hermione thought dryly. This book wasn't helping either. The pages were tearing and the words were water stained. Whoever owned this book this was hadn't taken very good care of it. A fact which caused her to frown in disapproval, knowledge was power and shouldn't be abused. It was a book about dark magic but she had disguised it to look as if it were about The Goblin Wars. Couldn't risk one of the order members seeing her reading something like that again. Last time she had been forbidden from entering the Hogwarts restricted section for nearly a year.

It wasn't as if Hermione was a death eater. She was simply curious. A simple Stupefy wouldn't keep the enemy down for long, the only way to win was to make sure the enemy couldn't fight back. It wasn't about winning the battle, it was about winning the war. But the others just didn't understand. Sirius and Remus always gave her a small smile and shrug when chewed her out but even they didn't seem too concerned. In fact they probably disapproved of her studies too simply because a few branches of magic she was particularly intrigued by had been labeled dark. Hermione scowled. Was she really the only person with any common sense in the resistance? Magic wasn't light or dark. One could kill someone just as easily with many light curses as they could with dark ones. It was all about intent.

She was torn out of her revere as Ginny threw a book at Ron, obviously reaching her breaking point. Hermione cringed as she heard pages rip.

"You know what Ronald? Just leave me alone! It wasn't my fault you crashed your stupid broom!"

"Yes it was!" Ron insisted stubbornly. "If you hadn't let loose the bludgers I wouldn't have run into the apple tree!"

Ginny was about to give a scathing retort when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. Mrs. Weasley popped out of the kitchen for the first time that evening to answer the door.

"Harry! We weren't expecting you so soon! Come in, come in!" she said cheerily, bustling Harry and Hedwig in. "Oh! And Remus! You too, come right in. Make yourselves at home." she gave them each a jovial smile and hug before rushing back into the kitchen to put out whatever was burning.

Remus looked tired but happy as he gave a disheveled Harry a pat on the back and headed upstairs. He sent a quick wink to Hermione before he disappeared out of view. Harry lurched forward slightly from the werewolf's strength but quickly recovered and headed towards his friends.

"Harry, it's good to see you." Hermione said sounding relieved. Glad to see the two and finally have some civilized company. Harry's eyes lit up when he saw her moved towards where she was seated.

"You too Mione! I didn't know you were here too." His said good-naturedly, moving to give her a hug. He was interrupted when Ginny suddenly grabbed his arm. Ignoring Hermione she pulled on him and seated him on the other couch with her and Ron. Harry was soon swept up in a quidditch conversation with the two and Hermione sat forgotten on the other couch. She frowned to herself before returning to her book.

Mrs. Weasley soon called them to dinner and Hermione set her book on the coffee table. Ron and Harry followed while Ginny had gone ahead to pick her seat. The whole Weasley clan joined them. Hermione sandwiched between the twins while Harry, Ron, and Ginny sat across from her.

"Hey Mione." George said from her right.

"Lo George, Fred." Hermione chirped from between them. The twins always made her feel a bit flustered, ever since George had kissed her when he was drunk at the Christmas party last year. I'll never live that down. She thought as she blushed.

"You visit Krum this summer like he asked?" Fred asked loudly, catching Ron's attention from his conversation with Harry.

"Or did you just ignore the poor guys affections-"

"You sultry little flirt." They ended together with a perverse waggling of their eyebrows. Hermione flushed before responding.

"Of course I visited him." she said indignantly. "You two know I'm not the type to kiss and tell though so bugger off."

"Oooooh-"

"Who said anything-"

"About kissing?" Fred finished. Ron had turned a delightful shade of plum and pointed a meaty finger at Hermione.

"But, Mione you said you weren't going! Besides why would you want to? He's just a stupid, blockhead-"

"Be quiet Ron! It wasn't that long ago that you were mooning over him! He's my friend and if I want to see him I will!" she rose from her chair too. "It's not like I need your permission." she sneered. "Besides! Saying you don't kiss and tell is just a muggle metaphor. Merlin you guys over react over everything." she sat down again with an exasperated look and pointedly ignored Ron's sputtering from above her.

Eventually Ron sat back down and they continued their dinner but conversation was tense. Hermione got fed up quickly and left the table to finish reading her book. Her mood went sour however when she heard a burst of laughter come from the room she just left. Sighing, she padded up the stairs and boarded herself in Ginny's room to continue looking into the Night Lock curse she'd been reading about.

She had to start somewhere after all.

Giving a frustrated sigh Hermione shut the book with a loud snap and picked up the next one. She'd been researching an old tome for an essay last year and there had been a brief reference to the Night Lock curse. It had piqued her curiosity and she had quickly devoured every other piece of information on it she could find.

The curse continued to elude her however and it was hard to find much about it. What she had gathered so far was that it was a dark curse that when used on someone sent them back in time. It was designed by Gellert Grindelwald to send one of his followers back to retrieve something he wanted desperately.

Hermione wasn't sure what it was that he wanted, but she figured that if he would go far enough to break about a million laws of time travel, then it must have some sort of value. The only drawback was that when you sent the person back, they couldn't return to their present time. Grindelwald had found this out the hard way when his follower never returned.

Hermione rolled her eyes. What an idiot. One of the darkest wizards of all time couldn't even think far enough ahead to plan a way to bring the object back. She wasn't stupid though, she'd find a way to get whatever was so valuable and return safely. If Grindelwald wanted it so badly it could probably help the Order end the war. Even if they are idiots, Hermione thought, at least they aren't trying to kill muggleborns.

Figuring out how to move forward through time actually wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. She'd simply calculated how many turns it would take with her time turner to go back the amount of time required. After that she increased the strength of the time turner by adding a couple drops of her blood to the sand. Blood, after all, was how magic traveled throughout the body. Then she reversed the lever and tested it out for a few hours. It had worked!

Now all she had to do was determine what she was going back for and when. Throwing another book aside her headache grew steadily worse.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

She quickly exhausted the limited amount of books she had brought with her and was out of anything to read. Because of this she'd been unusually irritable and the Burrows inhabitants had taken to avoiding her. Only two were unfazed by her mood. The twins had taken to teasing her even more so than usual. They were used to Ron's short temper so they felt perfectly comfortable with her.

Ron himself on the other hand was growing increasingly frustrated and the twin's decision to befriend Hermione only made matters worse. Harry and Ginny had found solitude in each other and were rarely found without the other. Hermione had had the misfortune of walking in on them snogging once and had been assaulted by Ginny's banshee screaming. Harry had apologized later but it had been an awkward and unconvincing apology to which Hermione only raised a sarcastic eyebrow.

Hermione was pleasantly surprised by the twin's new openness with her. Fred, she thought, was the more daring of the two. He thought of most of their pranks and was quick to try it out on anyone that was irritating him. George on the other hand was much more practical. He figured out how to go about making most of their products and was a touch more intelligent than Fred if a bit more introverted.

Their fifth year of school, Fred and George's last, was coming up quickly. After Harry's name had been cleared, they had all endured much whining from Percy's behalf about how Harry was lucky Fudge had been so forgiving, they set out to Diagon Alley for supplies.

"Now, I want you all to be very careful." told them all as they arrived in the Leaky Cauldron. "Don't talk to strangers and stick together. I don't want to come back without one of you like last year." She looked pointedly at the twins who merely grinned at her. "Meet me back here in two hours. Harry, Ron, Hermione, you three go together. The twins will be together of course. And Ginny you stay with me." glared sharply at her as she went to protest. With the their partners assigned, they headed their separate ways.

"Oh! Let's go in the quidditch store first! I hear they've got a brand new broom!" Ron said excitedly. Harry too looked eager to go check out the store but looked at Hermione, knowing how much she detested quidditch.

Hermione shook her head. "You guys go ahead, meet me at the bookstore when you're finished." And without waiting for them to respond she swept off to Flourish and Blotts.

The walk was peaceful and she quickly lost sight of Ron and Harry in the crowd. There were families everywhere toting excited children or groups of teenagers prowling the streets. The cobblestone street caused her mary jane clad feed to echo while she walked.

Soon she reached her bookstore of choice and breathed in the scent of old books that reminded her of her father's study. She winced, her parents wouldn't want to see her any time soon. After they'd heard of Cedric Diggory's death at the school they'd refused to allow her to return which had in turn caused a huge argument. Eventually she had stormed off and went to stay with the Weasleys, unable to talk the tense atmosphere anymore.

Shaking her head to forget her dreary thoughts she ambled down the aisles until she found a section containing old tomes about anything from the Fantastic Genealogy of Veela to the History of Russian Dark Lords. Hermione became so consumed in her search for a useful book that she lost all temporal awareness. By the time she found a promising book entitled The History and Origin of Magical Objects, she realized she'd been in the back of the store for a good thirty minutes.

Grudgingly treading towards the front of the door she was surprised to see Alastor Moody arguing with the cashier. Swearing and gesticulating wildly, Moody slammed a hand on the table and left. Hermione flinched at the sound but quickly went to the front to purchase her book, not wanting to waste time and leave Harry and Ron to fend for themselves much longer. It'll be a miracle if they haven't gotten lost in Knockturn Alley. Hermione thought.

"Hello love, is that all you wanted?" the older man said from behind the counter.

"Yes please..." Hermione said while trying to get a good look at the book Moody had left behind. "Actually, could I get that one too?" She asked pointing to the titleless book on the table. The man shrugged.

"Sure, I doubt anyone else is going to buy it. Auror Moody seems hell bent on getting it banned from all stores and schools. Don't see why he even cares though. There's only a few copies of it and it isn't widely read by any means. In fact I think that's the only copy our store has." Hermione quickly snatched the book, if the book was about to be banned by someone as influential as Alastor Moody it was unlikely she would get another chance to find it.

"Great," Hermione declared with a forced smile. "I'll take these two then."

"One galleon and seven sickles." The man mumbled, wrapping up the books. He handed them to her with a bright smile, clearly glad to be rid of the book that had caused him so much trouble with the Ministry.

As Hermione walked down the street towards Blazing Bludgers, the quidditch store, she pulled the mysterious book from her bag and opened it to the title page.

The words Cheating Death by Grendel Gilderwald glared up at her in scratchy black ink.